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ORDINANCE

Amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Ordinance on enforcement of imprisonment sentences

Pursuant to the 1992 Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, which was amended and supplemented under Resolution No. 51/2001/QH10;

Pursuant to Penal Code No. 32/1999/QH10;

Pursuant to Criminal Procedure Code No. 19/2003/QH11;

Pursuant to Resolution No. 04/2007/QH12 adjusting the 2007 law- and ordinance-making program;

The National Assembly Standing Committee hereby promulgates the Ordinance Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Ordinance on Enforcement of Imprisonment Sentences.

Article 1.- To amend and supplement the Ordinance on Enforcement of Imprisonment Sentences:

1. Article 1 is amended and supplemented as follows:

"Article 1.-

Enforcement of imprisonment sentences means forcing persons who are sentenced to termed imprisonment or life imprisonment to serve their penalties at prison in order to rehabilitate them into persons useful to society and having the sense of observing laws and rules of the socialist life and prevent them from committing new crimes."

2. To add Article 1a as follows:

"Article 1a.-

The Minister of Public Security and the Minister of Defense shall base themselves on management requirements regarding the detention of persons held in detention or custody to decide to permit persons sentenced to a termed imprisonment of five years or less to serve their imprisonment penalties at detention camps. The number of persons serving imprisonment penalties at a detention camp must not exceed fifteen per cent of the total number of persons held in detention or custody at that camp.

Persons serving imprisonment penalties at detention camps have obligations and interests like those who serve imprisonment penalties at prisons.

Superintendents of detention camps shall take responsibility for the management, incarceration and rehabilitation of persons serving imprisonment penalties at detention camps in accordance with legal provisions on enforcement of imprisonment sentences."

3. Article 10 is amended and supplemented as follows:

"Article 10.-

Prison means a place where persons who are sentenced to imprisonment serve their penalties. The management apparatus at a prison is composed of a superintendent, deputy superintendent, wardens, specialists, employees, technicians and officers and soldiers of the security armed force.

Prison superintendents are commanders of cadres and soldiers and take responsibility for the management, incarceration and rehabilitation of persons serving imprisonment penalties at their prisons in accordance with law."

4. Article 11 is amended and supplemented as follows:

"Article 11.-

1. Based on the nature of crimes and imprisonment terms of persons serving imprisonment penalties, their incarceration at a prison shall be organized as follows:

a/ Incarceration area for persons sentenced to imprisonment of 15 years or more or life imprisonment and persons sentenced to imprisonment for dangerous recidivism;

b/ Incarceration area for persons sentenced to imprisonment of up to 15 years.

2. Female and juvenile persons serving imprisonment sentences are incarcerated separately."

5. To annul Article 12 and Article 13.

6. Article 15 is amended and supplemented as follows:

"Article 15.-

1. When consigning a person sentenced to imprisonment to prison for serving his/her penalty, the following papers are required:

a/ A copy of the legally valid judgment; in case of appellate, cassation or reopening trial, the first-instance judgment is also required;

b/ The decision on judgment enforcement;

c/ The proof of identity of the person sentenced to imprisonment;

d/ A copy of the passport or other papers proving his/her nationality, if the person sentenced to imprisonment is a foreigner;

e/ The decision of the prison management agency on the consignment of the person sentenced to imprisonment to prison.

2. Within seven days after admitting a person sentenced to imprisonment to the prison, the superintendent of the prison shall notify the admission in writing to the court which has issued the judgment enforcement decision, the prison management agency and relatives of the convict. If the person sentenced to imprisonment is a foreigner, the superintendent of the prison shall send a written notice to the Vietnamese Foreign Affairs Ministry's consulate for the latter to notify the admission to the representative mission of the country of which the convict is a citizen."

7. Article 17 is amended and supplemented as follows:

"Article 17.-

1. Postponement of the serving of imprisonment penalty must comply with Article 61 of the Penal Code and Article 261 of the Criminal Procedure Code. The President of the court which has permitted the postponement of the serving of imprisonment penalty shall issue a judgment enforcement decision so that upon the expiration of the duration of postponement of the serving of imprisonment penalty, the convict shall immediately go to prison to serve the imprisonment penalty.

Reduction of the duration of serving imprisonment penalty must comply with Articles 58, 59 and 76 of the Penal Code and Articles 268 and 269 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

2. Suspension of the serving of imprisonment penalty must comply with Article 62 of the Penal Code and Article 262 of the Criminal Procedure Code. The President of the court which has permitted the suspension of the serving of imprisonment penalty shall issue a judgment enforcement decision with regard to the remaining part of the penalty so that upon the expiration of the duration of suspension of the serving of imprisonment penalty, the convict shall immediately go to prison to serve the remaining imprisonment penalty."

8. Article 18 is amended and supplemented as follows:

"Article 18.-

1. On the very day when a person sentenced to imprisonment completes his/her penalty serving, the superintendent of the prison shall release him/her, grant him/her a certificate of imprisonment penalty completion and introduce him/her to the People's Committee of the commune, ward or township where he/she resides or the organization or agency where he/she works and, at the same time, report the case in writing to the prison management agency and notify it to the court which has issued the judgment enforcement decision and the civil judgment enforcement agency of the locality where such person resides or works, in case such person is also subject to a fine or civil obligations as specified in the criminal judgment or decision of the court.

2. Foreigners who have completed their imprisonment penalties may stay at accommodation establishments managed by the Ministry of Public Security or the Ministry of Defense during the period of carrying out exit procedures."

9. Article 20 is amended and supplemented as follows:

"Article 20.-

1. Persons serving imprisonment penalties have their food rations ensured by the State. Based on the health requirements of persons serving imprisonment penalties in the course of incarceration, working and study at prison, the Government shall specify monthly food rations suitable to economic and budgetary conditions and market price fluctuations.

2. Persons serving imprisonment penalties live in shared cells. The minimum area per person is 2 m2."

10. Article 21 is amended and supplemented as follows:

"Article 21.-

1. Periodically, persons serving imprisonment penalties are provided by the State with clothes, blankets, sedge mats, mosquito-nets, other essentials and labor protection clothes and equipment suitable to their gender, climate conditions and the characteristics of their jobs. The provision and forms of clothes are specified by the Government.

2. Persons who have completed their imprisonment penalties will be returned all money amounts and other properties they deposit at the prisons and provided with a sum of money to cover travel and food expenses for going back to their places of residence or work."

11. Article 22 is amended and supplemented as follows:

"Article 22.-

1. Apart from the time for study and job training, persons serving imprisonment penalties shall work, except for holidays, traditional new-year days, Saturdays and Sundays as prescribed by law. All revenues and expenditures related to labor and job-training activities of persons serving imprisonment penalties must be reflected in the prison's financial-accounting system in accordance with the State's current accounting and statistic regulations.

2. After covering all reasonable expenses, working results of persons serving imprisonment penalties shall be used for:

a/ Increasing their food rations;

b/ Adding to the welfare fund of their prisons;

c/ Rewarding persons serving imprisonment penalties who have worked with results exceeding planned targets or with increased productivity;

d/ Making re-investment in their prisons, such as procuring working equipment and tools and building material facilities for their working and job-training activities."

12. Article 25 is amended and supplemented as follows:

"Article 25.-

While serving their imprisonment penalties at prison, convicts may send and receive letters, postal parcels and matters, meet and telephone their relatives and receive gifts in accordance with the Government's regulations."

13. Article 27 is amended and supplemented as follows:

"Article 27.-

1. Persons serving imprisonment penalties are entitled to the regime of epidemic prevention and control and medical examination and treatment at dispensaries in prisons. In case a person serving imprisonment penalty suffers from a serious ailment and needs treatment at another medical treatment establishment of the State, the prison superintendent shall notify his/her relative or lawful representative thereof for taking part in his/her care and treatment.

When there are grounds to believe that a person serving imprisonment penalty suffers from a mental disease or another disease which has deprived him/her of the capacity to cognize or control his/her acts, at the request of the prison superintendent, the president of the provincial-level people's court or the president of the military zone-level court in the locality where that person is serving his/her imprisonment penalty shall solicit forensic examination.

Basing himself/herself on the conclusion of the forensic examination council, the president of the provincial-level people's court or the president of the military zone-level military court in the locality where the convict is serving his/her imprisonment penalty may decide to send the convict to a specialized medical establishment for compulsory medical treatment. After recovery, such person shall continue serving his/her penalty if he/she has no reason for exemption from serving his/her penalty.

2. The Ministry of Health shall coordinate with the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Finance in organizing epidemic prevention and control and medical examination and treatment for persons serving imprisonment penalties; and organizing specialized medical establishments to provide compulsory medical treatment for persons serving imprisonment penalties who suffer from mental diseases.

Funds for epidemic prevention and control and medical examination and treatment for persons serving imprisonment penalties are allocated from the state budget."

14. Article 28 is amended and supplemented as follows:

"Article 28.-

1. When a person serving imprisonment penalty dies at the prison, the prison superintendent shall immediately report the death to the district-level investigative agency, people's procuracy and health agency or the military zone-level investigative agency, military procuracy and hospital in the locality where the prison is based and request them to identify the reason for the death and make a minutes in the witness of representatives of persons serving imprisonment penalties, and carry out death registration procedures with the local administration. In case a person serving imprisonment penalty dies while receiving medical treatment at a state-run medical treatment establishment, that establishment shall notify the death and send the death certificate to the prison.

Upon the death of a person serving imprisonment penalty, the prison superintendent shall notify the death to his/her relatives before carrying out burial procedures, then notify the death in writing to the court which has issued the judgment enforcement decision. When a foreigner who is serving his/her imprisonment penalty dies, the prison superintendent shall notify the death in writing to the Vietnamese Foreign Affairs Ministry's consulate for the latter to notify the death to the representative mission of the country of which such person bears the nationality.

Twenty-four hours after notifying relatives of the dead person and the above agencies, the prison superintendent shall organize the burial or cremation, depending on the local geological conditions, practices and customs. Burial and cremation funds are allocated from the state budget.

2. In case relatives or lawful representatives of dead persons file written requests for receipt of their bodies for burial, the prison superintendent may consider and decide to allow them to receive the bodies, unless such receipt may affect security, order or environmental sanitation.

3. Persons serving imprisonment penalties who die or suffer from injuries due to labor accidents are entitled to allowances under the Government's regulations."

Article 2.- To amend and supplement some terms used in the Ordinance on the Enforcement of Imprisonment Sentences as follows:

1. The phrase "Ministry of the Interior" in Articles 5, 9 and 23 is replaced by the phrase "Ministry of Public Security."

2. The phrase "has signed or acceded to" in Article 36 is replaced with the phrase "is a contracting party."

3. To abolish the word "the State" in Article 36.

Article 3.-

1. This Ordinance takes effect on January 1, 2008.

2. The Government, the Supreme People's Procuracy and the Supreme People's Court shall, within the ambit of their tasks and powers, detail and guide the implementation of this Ordinance.